• City will spend 15 million euros over next 3 years to combat homelessness
• Nearly 950 homeless sleep on Barcelona streets each night, 1,900 in shelters
Barcelona has announced an unprecedented plan to invest 15 million euros over the next three years to combat homelessness, tripling the number of city-subsidised housing units available to shelter homeless people and providing greater assistance to non-governmental organisations working with the homeless throughout the city.
The announcement comes in the midst of the rising cost of affordable housing in Spain’s second-largest city and a 60 percent increase since 2008 in the number of homeless using city-sponsored shelters.
The city’s investment will follow the guidelines established in a broad-ranging plan with 24 specific objectives and 70 concrete measures, developed by two municipal departments with the input of Barcelona residents through public hearings and the participation of 35 different neighborhood groups and non-profit associations that currently provide shelters and other assistance to the homeless.
► Read More in Spanish at Europa Press, El Periódico and El País …
